ClueBy
TodayArchiveWord list

Multiple-Meaning Words

A multiple-meaning word is spelled and said the same way but means different things: a bat flies at night, and you hit a ball with a bat. Context is the only clue, which is why these words are such good reading practice.

Here are 124 multiple-meaning words from past ClueBy puzzles, each with a real example sentence for every meaning. Use them as a reference, or make a printable worksheet below.

Make a worksheet

Students read each sentence and write the missing word. Every word appears in several sentences, each time with a different meaning.

Words on the sheet
468
Word bank
YesNo
↻ New worksheet

Multiple-Meaning Words

Name: ____________________Date: __________

Write the missing word from the word bank in each sentence. Each word is used more than once, with a different meaning each time.

Word bank: hand · straw · wake · ground · land · game · wound · bass

  1. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  2. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  3. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  4. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  5. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  6. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  7. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  8. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  9. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  10. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  11. There's no middle ________________.
  12. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  13. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  14. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  15. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  16. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  17. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  18. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  19. That was a fun ________________.
  20. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  21. When are we going to ________________?
  22. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  23. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  24. We ________________ up on opposing sides.

Sentences from ClueBy, Tatoeba (CC BY 2.0 FR) and Common Voice (CC0). clueby.com

Answer key

  1. wake — before a funeral
  2. bass — the fish
  3. straw — to clutch at straws
  4. hand — in cards
  5. game — a kind of play
  6. land — ground
  7. straw — a straw man
  8. hand — part of the body
  9. wound — an injury
  10. straw — dry grass
  11. ground — a position
  12. ground — crushed
  13. wake — to stop sleeping
  14. land — a country
  15. bass — the instrument
  16. ground — the earth
  17. wake — a trail
  18. hand — help
  19. game — a match
  20. game — wild animals
  21. land — to come down
  22. wound — an injury
  23. bass — low music
  24. wound — past of 'wind'

Multiple-meaning words list

Tick up to 10 words to build a worksheet with just those words.

Make a worksheet (0 words)

Frequently asked questions

What are multiple-meaning words?

Words with the same spelling and pronunciation but more than one meaning, like bark (of a dog or of a tree) or bank (for money or of a river). You can only tell which meaning is meant from the rest of the sentence.

Are multiple-meaning words the same as homonyms?

Mostly, yes. Teachers often use "multiple-meaning words" and "homonyms" for the same idea. Homophones are different: they sound alike but are spelled differently, like flour and flower.

Are the worksheets free?

Yes. Make and print as many as you like for home or classroom use. Each sheet has its own link, so you can print the same one again.

Where do the words come from?

From past ClueBy puzzles, a daily game where you sort twelve sentences by their missing word. A new puzzle every day adds four more words to this list.

Sentences from ClueBy, Tatoeba (CC BY 2.0 FR) and Common Voice (CC0). clueby.com